Plant sterols may promote CVD

"Part of the research that BfR cited was published in the journal
Atherosclerosis by Dr. Kelly of the University Eye Clinic in Maastricht,
The Netherlands. Patients were divided into three groups where one group
ate sterol-enriched margarine, another group consumed stanol-enriched
margarine, and a third group consumed non-enriched margarine. After 85
weeks, patients with high campesterol concentrations were found to have
increased retinal venular diameter, a change which some research shows
is indicative of cardiovascular damage.
Other recent research published in the journal Cardiovascular Research
also shows that sterol-fed mice had an increase in pro-atherogenic
immune cells (a monocyte subpopulation), and higher increased vascular
superoxide and lipid hydroperoxide production. Mice that had either
sterols or stanols had an impaired ability to relax their blood vessels.
All these changes are extremely toxic to the cardiovascular system."